


All Dressed

by jamesiee



Series: What's with these freaking birds? (12 Days of Christmas) [4]
Category: Check Please! (Webcomic)
Genre: Check Please 12 Days of Christmas, Christmas Fluff, Day 4 Santa Claus, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-16
Updated: 2016-12-16
Packaged: 2018-09-08 22:12:57
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,290
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8865391
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jamesiee/pseuds/jamesiee
Summary: “This is absolute bullshit guys,” Kent said, arms crossed and doing his best to channel all of his anger into his eyebrows like he’d seen his mom do a thousand times. It had to be a trait that was passed down, right?
  
  “We drew straws man,” Swoops said, not looking intimidated by Kent’s eyebrows at all.
  
  “Wheels  rigged the draw,” Kent said.
  
  Wheels gasped, and clutched his heart. “I’d never.” 
          Kent's not happy about drawing the short straw to sit on Santa's lap for the annual Aces Christmas photo.





	

**Author's Note:**

> So the holidays aren't really celebrated where I live right now and therefore, I'm feeling the opposite of Holiday spirit so I figured maybe if I wrote about Holiday spirit, I'd be able to get in the Holiday spirit. I'm following [omgnotanothercpblog's](http://omgnotanothercpblog.tumblr.com/post/153796265936/coming-soon-check-please-12-days-of-christmas) fic/art fest list.  
> This is unbeta'd so any spelling or grammar mistakes are completely my own. I wrote this one on my phone so there's probably gonna be a lot of them. My [tumblr](http://chocolatechipcookiesplease.tumblr.com%20).

Day Four: Santa Claus (sitting on Santa’s lap, playing Santa, a visit from Santa, it’s all good) 

“This is absolute bullshit guys,” Kent said, arms crossed and doing his best to channel all of his anger into his eyebrows like he’d seen his mom do a thousand times. It had to be a trait that was passed down, right?

“We drew straws man,” Swoops said, not looking intimidated by Kent’s eyebrows at all.

“Wheels rigged the draw,” Kent said.

Wheels gasped, and clutched his heart dramatically. “I’d never.”

“You’re a damn liar Wheels. I saw you counting cards at Mickey’s last poker night.”

Everyone in the room collectively stopped to stare at the rookie, who looked like a deer in the headlights. The room broke out into shouts when anyone who had been at that poker night tallied up how much they’d lost to Wheels.

“Jesus, go in for the kill there Parser,” Swoops laughed as Wheel’s face got progressively redder.

Kent shrugged; Wheels had managed to win most of Kent’s All Dressed chips from Canada before Kent caught on. That shit took time to get through customs so Kent would be waiting a while before he got his next order, and he was not happy about it.

Or about having to sit on Santa’s lap for the annual Aces team photo.

“So now that we all know Wheels is a cheat,” Kent said, raising his voice above the din of excited hockey players. “Can we all admit that the straws were rigged and therefore I shouldn’t have to be the one to sit on Santa’s lap?” His question was met with a round of “no”’s and “fuck no”’s and someone threw a green elf’s hat at his face while someone else mocked his use of "therefore." His teammates were assholes.

“I don’t know what you’re grumbling about,” Steve said, pulling red Santa pants over the bodysuit he was wearing. “I have to deal with you on my lap and a scratchy beard.” He glared at the beard in question, set somewhere underneath the pile of red fabric that was the matching jacket.

Steve had also drawn a short straw, but he was dealing with it with much more grace than Kent.

“‘Sides, you’re the only one who won’t squish Stevie for the picture so quit your bitchin’ and put on the damn hat Parse.”

Monty turned away before Kent could flip him the finger, so he settled for making a face at his back as he traded his snap-back for the stupid green hat.

It was true though, at 5’11 Steve had just an inch and a couple pounds on Kent. They were the outliers on the team though, everyone else was either a giant or corded with more muscle than Kent could ever hope to see on his frame.

“It could be worse,” Steve said, seeing Kent's grimace as he checked himself out using the camera app on his phone. The elf hat somehow managed to accentuate the cowlick that Kent wore snap-backs to hide.

“How's that?” Kent snorted.

Steve paused before he spoke, thinking for a moment then shaking his head. “Oh wait no, I forgot this was going to be immortalized in print forever. Aw shit… Well, at least we have a holiday skate with the kids afterwards”

Kent huffed a laughed. “You’re going have so much padding when you fall on your ass.”

“I bet you I’ll still be faster than you!”

“You’re not faster than me without it.” Kent shook his head, the white pom-pom of the hat bouncing.

“Scared that I’ll bet you?”

“Fine,” Kent rolled his eyes. “But when you lose you have to bring me back All Dressed chips when you come back after Christmas.”

“Deal.”

Once Steve had the outfit and beard on, and the hat was pulled down low enough to cover his dark curls, Andrea from PR came in to check on the team. Seeing that everyone was dressed in tacky holiday sweaters or some form of Christmas coloured Aces gear, she lead them out to stands behind the home bench where the photographer was set up. Steve was the last to join the group, having gotten sidetracked by a couple kids who had been waiting in the halls. Though Aces had all stuck their fists out for bumps as they past them, the kids barely returned them. Santa was clearly the star of the show. Steve joined the group looking slightly smug behind the white beard. He really loved getting high-fives.

With precision that came from years of working with the team, Andrea directed everyone into some semblance of order. The Aces all surrounded Steve, some sitting in the chairs in front of him and some in the row behind Steve; all chirping him when he kept bumping his pillow belly into people. They'd all done the team photo drill before (many, many times before) but it was still like herding cats to get everyone in place.

“Who’s sitting on Santa’s lap?” Andrea asked, looking down at her notes on a clipboard.

Kent had gotten swept up by his teammates moving around and had to climb over the back of seats to get to Steve. He plopped himself down on Steve’s lap, to a round of jeers and laughs from his asshole team.

“Jesus Christ Parse,” Steve groaned out. “Fucking charlie horse.”

Kent wigged, causing Steve to jab him in the ribs. “Shit, ouch. Your ass is so boney.”

“Smile for the picture assholes,” Kent told his team.

“You’re just a bundle of Christmas spirit Parson,” Andrea commented from her spot behind the photographer’s elbow.

Kent glared at her and the camera’s flash went off a number of times in quick succession.

The photographer checked the screen. “Excellent.” He titled it to show Andrea and she burst out laughing, but nodded.

“Okay, get your skates on and be on the ice in five. Santa, come with me. You gotta take some pictures with the kids before you get on the ice.”

Kent was shoved off Steve’s lap as he stood up, but able to catch himself before he fell completely to the ground. He shoved at Steve’s shoulder as they walked down the stairs together.

“Kent, you too,” Andrea said. “I wanna get some pictures where you’re not glaring.”

At Kent’s raised eyebrow, she handed over her phone to show her the picture that she had just tweeted from the Aces official account.

Kent and Steve were right in the center of the picture, surrounded by the team. For once in their lives, the team had listened to Kent’s chirping as they were all smiling nicely at the camera, looking very festive in their gear. Except Kent. Despite the green hat he wore, and the fact that he was sitting on Santa’s knee, he was caught glaring at the camera.

“You look like Santa’s grumpiest elf!” Steve laughed loudly in Kent’s ear when he saw.

Kent didn’t disagree. “Why would you pick this one?”

Andrea motioned at Steve, who had now braced himself on his knees while he bent over to laugh. “It’s funny. Now c’mon. The kids’ll love if you’re Santa’s helper.”

She turned and Kent and Steve followed. Kent’s elbows did nothing to stop him from laughing to himself.

“I better be getting extra chips outta this,” Kent grumbled.

“Merry Christmas to you too Parser,” Steve laughed, putting on a Santa voice when they rounded a corner into a group of kids.  

Seeing their happy faces as they started all talking excitedly at Santa, Kent figured that Christmas might not be all bad. Stupid Christmas photos and itchy hats included.

He was smiling in the next Holiday tweet that the Aces sent out.

**Author's Note:**

> Man, this was a mess, I'm sorry. The predominant trait of the Aces are that they're assholes . I mentioned this in the tags on tumblr, but "Steve" is a nickname. His actual name is Grant Rogers.  
> Did Wheels get his nickname because he's fast or cause he's good at wheeling people? We may never know.


End file.
